In an attempt “not to judge either side” involved in the anti-corporate demonstrations that have gone on near Wall Street since Sept. 17, New York Times reporter Brian Stelter used the word “battle” in a tweet to describe Saturday’s altercation between police and protesters, in which officers pepper-sprayed apparently peaceful demonstrators. (more)

The legacy of George Bush’s two “wars of liberation” may already be judged as foreign policy blunders, but the real costs of war remain even after the truism of failed empire. In Afghanistan, acid attacks on at least 15 female students mark a worrisome trend in women’s rights there. And in Iraq, an Iraqi soldier opened fire on a patrol of U.S. troops, killing two.